PROVO -- Playing at No. 21 South Carolina, the No. 35 BYU women's tennis team came up short in its bid for an upset, losing 6-1. The match was closer than the score would indicate, with the Cougars barely losing all three doubles matches and staying competitive in most of the singles matches.
"It was good to see that early in the season we were able to play well," head coach Craig Manning said. "We were in most of the sets."
Elizaveta Khoudoiarova won BYU's only match at the No. 5 spot, defeating Lynn-Yin Tan 7-6(2), 6-2. Brooke Beverley, playing her first competitive tennis since November, lost 6-4, 7-5 to Katarina Markovski at the No. 1 spot after losing in the No. 1 doubles spot 8-6. Beverley teamed with Lindsay Ferrell, who is still feeling the effects of a sore foot, and came very close in their doubles match.
"We could have won the doubles point," Manning said. "We had a lot of sets we could have won, we just couldn't finish them off."
BYU was leading in both the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches, taking 6-4 and 7-5 leads, respectively. But in both matches, the Cougars were unable to hold off comebacks from the Gamecocks and lost each 9-7.
"We can get a lot better than we are right now, but it's early in the season," Manning said. "We'll get better."
BYU will travel and play at No. 5 Georgia tomorrow. The Cougars continue their road trip next week with matches against Northwestern and Wisconsin.